Hey people I am thinking of just updating my CPU in my current configuration to a higher specced one. I don't want to change my mobo, but I am wanting to upgrade to a Northwood core P4 2.4GHz but there are two version available the 400MHz FSB and a 533MHz FSB which one is compatible with ASUS P4B i845 chipset? There is a significant price difference between the versions being the 533MHz one is cheaper (dunnos how but it is).

Also socket will fit as I have Socket 478 currently.

Cheers
AgentMil

The i845 chipset has a 400 MHz FSB. You can use all 100 MHz quad-pumped (400 MHz) based P4s, currently up to 2.6 GHz.

Thanks! Dunnos if it is worth the upgrade now, since the 2.4GHz processor is $440 AUD might be better off upgrading whole system and a later date. Sigh weird pricing beats me again 533MHz FSB CPUs much much more cheaper

Thanks CiTay

Cheers
AgentMil

I would go for a fast Northwood Celeron, saves you a lot of bucks.

How fast is your current cpu? I'd personally wait for the 3.0ghz HT cpus to go down in price, but maybe your mobo doesn't support them.

Actually, I think there is no such thing as a fast Northwood Celeron.

Northwood architecture is optimized for high memory bandwidth availability. Onboard cache helps a great deal in satisfying that demand. Therefore, a Celeron, having only a quarter of the cache of a full-blown P4, will turn out to be as performant as a P4 running at a 500MHz slower clock.

For the same reason (i.e. memory bandwidth needs), AgentMil, imho there is no use in upgrading your P4 without replacing your motherboard with a DDR revision of it. Any Northwood, and certainly a hungry 2.4GHz one, will be held back severely by SDR RAM.

I don't think the P4B supports HyperThreading CPU's (thought some newer boards like the P4B533 do with an updated BIOS). It's hard to tell if later BIOS revisions have support when ASUS gives such wonderful descriptions of the changes they have made in their change log.

I can't believe they made a P4 mobo that uses SDR RAM?! Yeah, go with a CPU and motherboard upgrade ASAP.

Sorry to shock you: Intel have sold massive numbers of i845 chipsets. Everything before i845D had SDR on it... It could be considered a crime indeed...

Yeah. I wouldn't know. I only use AMD's stuff. B) Actually, the more I think about this, I would probably go with one of their procs/mobos instead. An Athlon XP 2400+ is about $70 cheaper (according to the latest pricewatch), and should do nicely unless you absolutely need SSE2 support for your applications. As for motherboards, probably an ASUS A7N8X (non-deluxe version, nForce audio is overrated IMO).

how do you know he isn't running ddr? his mobo appears to support ddr (according to asus' site)

Not according to the official specifications.

The P4B (i845 Chipset) has support for SDR RAM only. Still can't believe they would sell such a crippled motherboard.

hmm, my mistake. apparently i read the specs to a board called p4b266, a revision that seems to have added ddr support. SDR would truly suck with a p4, thats for sure.

I think you've been wiser from the start



I agree, this would probably be best. But I would opt for the Deluxe version; its only a few bucks extra for an extra audio interface that's up there with the better consumer cards. It means you could spend your sound card budget on a semi-pro card without gaming and surround sound stuff.

The worst crime was that they released a new 845 revirsion every month.

Last summer, I bought a mobo with 845G (the first one to support PC2700, although unofficially). A month later the 845PE emerged, this time with PC2700 AND HT support

LoL! Yes it runs a SDR RAM configuration at the moment. I already decided to go down the motherboard/RAM/CPU upgrade path... this should take no longer than 2 weeks to perform hopefully as I am still deciding whether it is better to wait a few more months as Intel seems to be itching for another price drop according to a few suppliers in my area, with a price drop I can use the cash to purchase an upgraded video card as well. Thanks for the help though, much appreciated.

By the way for normal applications and such this configuration served quite well, as I don't use my computer to do bandwidth intensive tasks, and also I don't think I can notice the the performance decrease while using my computer to encode music/burn CDs/play a few games/type documents (main task)/listen to music/surf the internet. I selected this configuration based on my needs back then and didn't exceed those needs, even though it was tempting as later on my parents were willing to chip in some money I decided against it, as the cost didn't justify the need to have the extra mile at that point in time and I don't like using my parents to buy something that I ultimately would use myself.

Cheers
AgentMil

True indeed. Encoding music is not a memory intensive thing, though ddr may win you some 15 seconds per cd: http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/200...es/image010.gif

edit: mmm you can't link directly to THG pics, so here's the page: http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/200...7/i845d-07.html